It's Friday again, and you know what that means...no meat! This week's installment involves a semi-hard recipe that I have reworked to make super duper easy! About a month ago I decided to fix Ricotta Manicotti with Tomato Sauce for my mother's birthday...well halfway into making the dish, I remembered why I don't fix this meal often...it is aggravating! So after some thought I figured out how to redo it...resulting in the same great taste, just so much easier to make. Roll up your sleeves and try this baby out for size!

Chop all veggies, heat a medium skillet with 1 tablespoon oil, add mushrooms once oil is hot and saute until the mushrooms have darkened and softened to a good consistency. Remove mushrooms from pan, set aside to cool. Add chopped onions and bell peppers to the pan and saute until wilted and slightly browned, set aside. Cook pasta noodles just until it reaches al dente', drain and carefully remove lasagna noodles with tongs onto a plate (it is ok if some are broken.) While the pasta is cooking, mix together in large bowl the ricotta, 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of the Mozzarella cheese, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper and cooled mushrooms. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large 9x13 baking dish, pour one of the jars of tomato sauce into the dish and add cooked onions and bell peppers, stir in well. Taking one lasagna noodle at a time (on a separate plate) using about 2-3 tablespoons of the ricotta filling, evenly spread the mixture onto the noodle, and then starting at one end carefully roll up the lasagna noodle and place (seam down) into the baking dish with sauce. Repeat until finished (this should fill up the baking dish!) Once you are done with the lasagna roll-ups, pour over the other jar of tomato sauce (I only use half a jar, but it is up to you) and then top with the remainder Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese. Bake until bubbly about 30 minutes, and cheese is nicely browned in spots. Enjoy!

Photo 1 shows the lasagna roll-ups once placed into the sauce.Photo 2 shows the dish before it goes into the oven (we like cheese!)Photo 3 - Missing - Sorry no photo, we were too hungry and I forgot to take a picture!